Lesson #4 The Covenant Relationship is the reason for the Book of Mormon.

It is interesting that the scriptures that we seem to know the best are the most misinterpreted. If we would ask 100 of our Book of Mormon believing friends to tell us the main purpose of the Book of Mormon, most of them would say "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ." This is one scripture everyone seems to know. This is a purpose of the Book of Mormon but it is not the main purpose. The main purpose of the Book of Mormon is to restore a knowledge of the covenants. The sequence is, firstly to the Lamanites, then to the rest of the house of Israel and then to the world. The phrase "Jew and Gentile" means everyone in the world. The Title Page, which we have mostly ignored, tells us the main purpose. This is also found in 3N 10:1-7 and Mormon 2:39-41.

Additional evidence supporting these scriptures is the meaning of the name "Mormon." Most of us think that the Book of Mormon was named after the man, Mormon. This does not make any sense when you think about it because the other two books are not named after men. We are told in 3N 2:96 that Mormon is named after the Land of Mormon, the land where Alma established the church. Alma did this by restoring the covenant relationship and then baptizing the people as a witness that they had made a covenant (Mos 9:41, 44, 174-179; Alma 5:27). The Land of Mormon to the Nephite believers meant the land where the covenant was restored, therefore, Mormon means restoration of the covenant and spiritually speaking, the Book of Mormon means Book of the Restoration of the Covenant. This means that all three books now have the same name. The Doctrine and Covenants already has covenant in the title. Bible is not its real name. Bible is Greek for a collection of books. The real name is Old Testament and New Testament. Testament is an old English word for covenant. It makes sense that the purpose of the Restoration Movement and the main purpose of the Book of Mormon is the same. The Book of Mormon has several purposes but the main purpose comes first.